Fact: Chile is the 2nd largest producer of salt, after Norway. I'm not surprised since every place we've been other than (last city) has mentioned salt, I am not surprised.
Flew into Puerto month and drove to Puerto Varas where we will be spending 2 nights.
The city was settled largely by Germans, and the influence is still seen today in architecture, education, etc. The airport, although small, is the 2nd busiest in Chile.
The city took a while to be found because it was thick woods. Once they cleared the trees, they found the Llanquihue ("deep place") Lake, which has been a great source of revenue. They still don't know depth of lake. The last measure was 500 feet, but know there are areas deeper. It is the largest lake fully within in Chile (another, but larger lake, is shared with Argentina).
There are two volcanoes overlooking the area: Osorno volcano (cone top) and Kobuko volcano (flat top). The Kobuko last erupted over 175 years ago. However, Osorno erupted only 3 year ago. Much of the ashes from the Chilean volcano blew into Argentina, due to wind and proximity. This lead to quite brouhaha about who would pay to clean up the Argentina side. Argentina said it wss Chile's volcano. Chile said it fell on Argentina's land. Both ARE correct.
As we drove toward the volcano, we went through a rain forest with lots of tall trees. The clouds were nice enough to move aside from the top for our pictures.
Then we went on a short boat ride around a lake. The view was spectacular - I can see why this is the summer homes for the rich (although t their homes are largely hidden from the lake).
Last, we stopped by Saltos del Petrohue, a walk with several waterfalls. None of them were as high as Niagara Falls, but the power and the "in and out" as they moved among the boulders was awesome.
Pictures:
• Swiss looking buildings downtown, A frame houses
• volcano, Tip of volcano with cracks
• Snowman?
• Fox
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